I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University. – William F. Buckley, Jr.
Generally, this sentiment is as commendable today as it was when WFB originally voiced it. But that doesn’t mean Harvard faculty can’t surprise – and some of them have done just that.
On Nov. 10, 19 Harvard Law professors penned an open letter in defense of one of the university’s students, and denouncing campus sexual assault film “The Hunting Ground.” The documentary was filmed to catalog evidence of the “rape culture” the left alleges stalks modern college campuses. Instead, it’s a work of crude propaganda based on false statistics and facts that are misconstrued and misleading.
In one of the stories covered in the film, a male Harvard student was accused of being a sexual predator. Enter the Harvard Law professors: “This purported documentary provides a seriously false picture both of the general sexual assault phenomenon at universities and of our student Brandon Winston,” their open-letter read.
According to then student Kamilah Willingham, she and a friend were sexually assaulted after they passed out from a night of drinking. Willingham alleged she was possibly drugged and Winston was the assailant. But as the letter plainly states, the story told in the film is “biased,” “one-sided” and an “unfair portrayal of Mr. Winston.”
The Washington Examiner quoted the letter:
"We believe that Brandon Winston was subjected to a long, harmful ordeal for no good reason. Justice has been served in the end, but at enormous costs to this young man," the professors wrote. "We denounce this film as prolonging his ordeal with its unfair and misleading portrayal of the facts of his case. Mr. Winston was finally vindicated by the Law School and by the judicial proceedings, and allowed to continue his career at the Law School and beyond. Propaganda should not be allowed to erase this just outcome."
The letter continued, “With respect to Mr. Winston, the film gives the impression that he, like others accused in the stories featured in the film, is guilty of sexual assault by force and the use of drugs on his alleged victims, and that he, like the others accused, is a repeat sexual predator.” The reality of the situation is that Willingham’s allegations had been disproven and Winston was charged with a “non-sexual” misdemeanor.
But as is typical, rape culture heroes such as Kamilah Willingham or Emma Sulkowicz (aka “Columbia Mattress Girl”) are instantly elevated in society for their “bravery” even if, as in Willingham’s story, the allegations have more holes than Swiss cheese. Ultimately it’s these “crying wolf” cases that make it more difficult for the real thing to be distinguished.
The fim has already hit screens, including a viewing at the White House. (This, despite the fact that the Harvard professors mostly have impeccable liberal credentials, and include a prominent feminist and Obama mentor Charles Ogletree.) It is set to be aired on CNN.
By denouncing the film and defending the male student, “[t]he 19 professors want to be sure viewers are aware that the film is highly misleading[,]” The Washington Examiner reported. Their dissent will be even more valuable should the film receive Oscar nomination attention some activists hope for it.
The many factual inaccuracies of this film illustrate the sad truth that the left will go to whatever length necessary to advance the progressive agenda, even if it means portraying someone falsely or exploiting fears about rape. That Harvard faculty have felt compelled to denounce it shows that activists may have reached the limit of their audience’s credulity.
